


Black (Licorice) Magic

by baridalive



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Bedsharing, College Student Mark, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, Kisses, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan is Whipped, M/M, Making Out, Self-Indulgent, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Youtuber Donghyuck, black licorice, just 3.8k of the purest fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-12 15:16:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19231711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baridalive/pseuds/baridalive
Summary: Donghyuck, a certified licorice anti, goes on a late night expedition to get a little gift for Mark, his licorice enthusiast boyfriend.alternately titled: Donghyuck Has the Power of God and Licorice on His Side





	Black (Licorice) Magic

**Author's Note:**

> this is the most self-indulgent thing i've ever written,,,  
> quick thank you to [my lovely mac](https://twitter.com/multifandom_mac) for being my beta on such short notice and yelling with me about vine references until i finally came up with a title (much love to you)

Doing stupid, adventurous things is right up Donghyuck’s alley as a YouTuber, and more often than not, he drags his boyfriend along into his schemes and pranks, both voluntarily and not-so-much.

Mark doesn’t complain very much either way, so he’s the perfect partner.

They’ve done almost everything from playing hide-and-seek in Ikea overnight with some of their mutual friends—which resulted in them having to make a run from security at four in the morning—to throwing a flash mob in the middle of Times Square—which also resulted in them having to run from security—and Donghyuck still has a list of things he wants to do that is thirty-six pages long.

Given that, there aren’t many things that Donghyuck would refuse to do. Actually, there are only three things that he refuses to do: anything that could actually harm anyone, anything that Mark definitely says “no” to—Donghyuck may enjoy dragging Mark to things that he doesn’t want to do, but he knows when Mark is really uncomfortable with something so he stops—as well as anything involving black licorice.

Donghyuck _hates_ black licorice with a burning passion, and constantly gets made fun of for it by his friends.

The funny thing about licorice is that Mark loves the stuff and seems to always have a bag hanging around the apartment somewhere. Every time Donghyuck sees it, he threatens to throw either it or Mark out of the apartment, but all his complaints result in is a mildly amused Mark who munches on the licorice while watching Donghyuck fume.

There is a video that Jaemin, a fellow YouTuber and friend of both Donghyuck’s and Mark’s, filmed six or so months ago where he tried to get Donghyuck to eat black licorice, but it just ended up with Donghyuck in tears trying to avoid it and Jaemin profusely apologizing while Mark rescued his boyfriend from Jaemin’s clutches.

To say the least, that video never saw the light of day.

Donghyuck remembers a couple days after the incident when Mark asked him why he hates licorice so much, and Donghyuck having to sit Mark down and tell him that it was something that he was dared to eat an entire bag of in elementary school. He didn’t end up having to explain any further because Mark was there at the time of the incident. Mark apologized so many times, recalling how little Donghyuck had thrown up immediately after and then had been sick for days, but Donghyuck just laughed it off, saying that it wasn’t a big deal anymore, it was just that he didn’t like thinking about it all that much.

“Hyuck?” A voice echoes through the apartment, forcing Donghyuck out of his reverie. “Hyuck are you home?”

“Yeah,” Donghyuck calls back. “I’m in the office!”

There is a thud from the kitchen—most likely groceries being plopped on the counter by tired hands—before there is the sound of footsteps shuffling down the hallway and a soft knock on the door.

“Hey,” Mark says softly, poking his head in. He looks tired: dark circles under his eyes, no rosy glow in his cheeks, pale fingers shaking with exhaustion. “Can I help—”

“No you may the fuck not.” Donghyuck stands from his computer chair where he had been editing a video and walks over to Mark. “The only thing you’re going to be doing is sleeping.”

“But I have work to do, Hyuck. School is kicking my ass,” Mark frowns, stepping fully into the room. “And not to mention the studio projects that I have to do…” He trails off, eyes glazing over as he ponders all of the work he has to complete before the next day.

“You’re not going to be productive if you don’t sleep, okay baby?” Donghyuck brushes Mark’s hair off of his forehead, pressing a kiss there that makes Mark positively melt in his arms, finally leaning against Donghyuck. “Let’s get you to bed, hmm?”

Mark simply nods, giving into Donghyuck because he knows better than anyone that he could win this fight if he tries, but the repercussions—namely lack of both sleep and Donghyuck—aren’t worth it in the long run. Donghyuck, with a moment of struggle, manages to pick Mark up so the elder’s legs are wrapped around his waist. He waddles down the hallway as gracefully as he can but it doesn’t end up mattering because Mark is fast asleep before Donghyuck can even deposit him on their shared bed.

Donghyuck huffs out a quiet laugh as he tucks his sleeping boyfriend under the covers. He removes Mark’s glasses, setting them on the bedside table beside the recently-plugged-in phone that he has retrieved from the back pocket of Mark’s jeans. With another careful kiss placed on the bridge of Mark’s nose, Donghyuck excuses himself from the room with the bare minimum amount of noise made in hopes to make sure Mark stays asleep for as long as possible.

He gives a dopey smile at the lump on the bed before he closes their bedroom door and heads over to the kitchen—the kind of dopey smile that Mark would have made fun of him for, but he isn’t awake to do that so Donghyuck snatches the opportunity to be soft over his boyfriend without the teasing it would normally gain.

A bag of groceries sits on the counter, presumably from where Mark plopped it before he dragged his tired feet over to Donghyuck’s office, and Donghyuck can’t help but snort when he flicks the lights on and can see that it’s the reusable bag that Mark insists upon bringing to every shopping trip. Donghyuck once made the joke that for a music major, Mark sure as hell cares a lot about the oceans, but with the pout and the quiet “but we need to save the sea turtles” that Donghyuck got in return, he has never made any further comments on the subject.

Donghyuck unloads the bag, putting all of the food in its proper places in the kitchen. It’s his usual job because after the Great Fajita Fiasco of 2018, Donghyuck really isn’t sure if he wants Mark anywhere in his kitchen. When he gets to the bottom, his hand brushes along a plastic bag the crinkles under his touch. With a frown, he pulls it out, and the moment he lays eyes on it, Donghyuck wants to slam his head into the marble countertop.

It’s a bag of Donghyuck’s favorite chocolates, the raspberry filled ones coated in dark chocolate that are ridiculously expensive. Stupid _stupid_ Mark Lee always thinks of Donghyuck’s needs—no, not even his needs, his _wants_ too!—before his own physical wellbeing so much it makes his stomach churn with guilt. Mark is so perfect and beautiful that it aches to the very pits of Donghyuck’s soul when life tries to treat him as any less than that, and it sometimes makes him wonder what worlds he saved in his past life to deserve someone like Mark.

Right now is one of the times where he ponders how the actual fuck a person as precious as Mark ended up in his life, but he can’t dwell on those thoughts for long. He sends a glance at the closed bedroom door and makes up his mind in a split second. Mark always thinks of the little things that make Donghyuck happy, even when it’s this small, so Donghyuck figures this is the absolute least he can do to repay him for this, even if he might get teased for it later.

Donghyuck grabs his keys from their hook next to the door, slides on his shoes as fast as he can before heading out of the apartment and down the street towards the convenience store at the end of the block.

However, he should know that by this point in his career, he can’t do much in public without getting recognized. Even if it is by one of his best friends with their vlog camera in hand, scurrying across the street—quite illegally, if Donghyuck may add—shouting his name.

“Hyuckie! What is _up_ my man?” Yangyang calls, out of breath.

“Hey, Yangyang,” Donghyuck laughs as his friend and fellow YouTuber barrels into him sideways, slinging an arm around his shoulder.

“What are you doing out and about this late?”

“I could ask you the same thing.” Donghyuck doesn’t have to look at Yangyang to see the pout he is giving him, imploring the other for an answer. “I’m picking up something for Mark.”

Yangyang shifts at his side, adjusting his filming arm so they are both in the shot. He pointedly gives Donghyuck the classic “I know what you’re up to” look that makes Donghyuck roll his eyes.

“Well, I’m going to follow you!” He declares it with such conviction that Donghyuck flinches away before being drawn right back in via the arm around his shoulders. “We’re going on an adventure, everyone!”

Donghyuck can’t help but laugh along as they march together down the street, all the way inside the brightly lit store doors of the convenience store. He has to squint for the first few moments as his eyes adjust to the assault of the white fluorescent bulbs as opposed to the gentle yellow glow of the streetlamps lining the sidewalk outside.

“So…” Yangyang pokes his shoulder, having peeled himself from Donghyuck’s side as they entered the building. “What are you gonna get him?”

“You’ll just have to wait and see.”

Yangyang gives his camera a serious look.

“If Donghyuck is getting condoms, I will bleach my eyes and delete my YouTube channel.”

Donghyuck chokes from the next aisle over and launches a box of Magnums, miraculously hitting him square in the nose. Yangyang stumbles, almost dropping his camera as he collects himself and curses Donghyuck out simultaneously.

“Shut up,” Donghyuck says, grinning over the aisle barrier. “We already have enough anyway.”

Yangyang splutters, scrambling for a response in such a way that makes Donghyuck double over with laughter. Wiping tears from his eyes a moment later, Donghyuck grabs the box that Yangyang tossed back to him and puts it back on the shelf.

“Are you going to tell me what you’re really here for now?” Yangyang whines, but his eyes are alight with mischief that lets Donghyuck know that he is thoroughly enjoying getting all of this content on camera.

“This way.” He walks backwards, beckoning Yangyang to follow him father into the store until he takes an abrupt turn into the candy aisle just before they encounter the back wall of the store.

“What are we doing here?” Yangyang barely gets the question out before Donghyuck dramatically snags a bag of Mark’s favorite brand of licorice and holds it up for Yangyang, and his camera, to see. He frowns. “I thought you hated that stuff?”

“I do,” he responds, nonchalant. Donghyuck walks out of the aisle and back to the checkout at the front of the store, Yangyang trailing not too far behind. “I told you I was picking up something for Mark.”

“You put up with someone who likes black licorice?” Yangyang reaches forward to feel Donghyuck’s forehead playfully. “Are you feeling alright?”

Donghyuck swats his hand away, handing the bag over to the bored looking girl working the lane. Her nametag reads “Yerim”, and Donghyuck makes a mental note to text his Yeri to ask if she is available to do a collab soon.

“Love makes us do crazy things, huh?” Donghyuck hands over a ten dollar bill to the girl, telling her to put the change in the cancer donation fund bucket on the counter and taking the licorice and his receipt in return.

“Love is disgusting. You and Mark are so… sappy.” Yangyang pulls a face as he leads the way out of the store and back up the street to Donghyuck’s apartment. Donghyuck simply ignores the comment, instead vying to ask him something completely different.

“Why are you out vlogging this late anyway?”

“Renjun is coming in from the airport in…” he checks his watch quickly, “approximately thirty minutes and I wanted to film him coming back.”

Donghyuck raises an eyebrow.

“You mean you’re anxious for him to come back and you couldn’t sleep?”

“Yeah, that,” Yangyang deflates.

“He’s excited to see you, even if he’s determined to keep up his whole ‘stone cold bastard without a heart or soul’ facade that he’s been dragging around for years,” Donghyuck sends him a wink. Yangyang retaliates with a solid whack on his shoulder.

“He’s going to kill you for saying that in the vlog but,” he grins diabolically, “there is no way in hell I am cutting that little gem out.” Donghyuck simply shrugs in response, trudging up the steps to the apartment complex while Yangyang lingers on the sidewalk.

“I’m Donghyuck Lee,” he says, spreading his arms. “I think I can handle an emotionally constipated demon who probably can’t even reach my knees.”

“He’s literally going to kill you the next time he sees you,” Yangyang laughs, shaking his head as he starts to back away from the building.

“Nah,” Donghyuck smirks, unperturbed. “He’s going to be a little too wrapped up in you to bother with my annoying ass.”

“Ain’t that the truth, sis,” Yangyang whistles. “Goodnight, Hyuck!”

“G’night, Yangyang,” Donghyuck calls back before entering the complex, the bag of licorice still heavy between his fingers.

By the time Donghyuck makes it back up to his and Mark’s apartment, the time is stretching dangerously close to one in the morning. He toes off his shoes quietly, hanging his keys back up on their book and placing the licorice on the kitchen counter. He tiptoes into the bedroom and snatches Mark’s bag, rooting through it until he produces the little flashdrive that he keeps his work files on.

On his way out, Donghyuck bangs his hip into the side of the dresser and curses out loud. He thanks whatever deity that might be watching over for making Mark the heaviest sleeper to ever exist at that very moment, because he manages to make it back out of the bedroom without waking his boyfriend.

Since Donghyuck doesn’t have classes to worry about and no real reliable uploading schedule for his fans to be pressed about, he figures he can afford to lose some sleep in an effort to help Mark out. As much as he would like to be able to do his homework for university, Donghyuck hasn’t done calculus since high school and isn’t about to start again now, especially at the insane level of mathematics that Mark has carried himself to as a freaking _music major_.

Donghyuck sighs, sliding the flashdrive into his computer and opening up the latest file and the document full of notes on it. He may have a long way to go, but Donghyuck would go however far he needed for Mark and then some.

Some hours later, Donghyuck returns to the bedroom, slipping the flashdrive into Mark’s bag just as he found it. He yanks his sweatshirt off and tosses it across the room to where he assumes the laundry basket is, and if it isn’t there, that’s a problem for tomorrow-Donghyuck because tonight-Donghyuck just wants to go the fuck to sleep and not worry about where his discarded clothes are.

Mark is in the same position Donghyuck had left him: curled up on his side, smack in the middle of the mattress. He breathes out a laugh, shoving Mark over so he can slide under the covers behind him. He wraps his arms around Mark’s middle and lets sleep overtake him the moment his eyes fall shut.

Donghyuck sleeps for god-knows-how-long because the sun is already on its way back towards the horizon when he blinks his eyes open. Mark is long gone, but that isn’t a surprise. He has classes all day today and then work at the studio after that, and Donghyuck just hopes that Mark won’t be annoyed with him for trying to help.

He rolls over and checks his phone before realizing that he didn’t plug it in last night when he crawled into bed, so the fact that it is charging on the bedside table is all Mark’s doing. With that warmth inside of him, Donghyuck shoots Mark a good morning text before forcing himself out of bed because he does still have a video to edit and upload. As much as he wants to laze around and slack off, he’s not exactly a small YouTuber with this six and a half million followers, so he does have a duty to keep them happy because they keep him employed.

Mark sends him a text back a few hours later, saying something snarky along the lines of “what do you mean ‘morning’? it’s three o’clock in the goddamn afternoon babe”.

The apartment door opens around seven that evening just as Donghyuck is posting his video and it nearly gives him a heart attack because Mark isn’t due back home for quite some time.

“Hyuck? I’m home.” However, it is Mark who is shuffling down the hallway and gently knocking on the doorframe of the office, calling out to let his boyfriend know that he is back.

“Mark?” Donghyuck squints up at him from his computer chair. “What are you doing home at such a reasonable hour?”

“Well, here’s the thing,” Mark starts, stepping into the room. “I was expecting to stay late at the studio because I knew that I had hours worth of work to complete still, yet when I opened the audio files, I was pleasantly surprised to see all three of the tracks impeccably complete according to my notes. So, I polished them up and gave them over to the studio manager before coming back.” Mark is grinning, leaning back against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. He is smug—almost unbearably so. “Would you happen to know anything about those mysterious self-completing files on my flashdrive?”

Donghyuck likes to think he has a good poker face—the product of years of acting in high school—but he can’t stop the guilty smile from curving the corners of his lips.

“Nope,” he dismisses, rising from his chair. “Absolutely no idea.”

“Hmm,” Mark hums, tapping his chin with his index finger. “That’s a shame. I was going to give my savior a kiss but now it looks like I’ll just have to—”

“Oh my _god_ you are such a dork,” Donghyuck huffs, standing right in front of Mark now.

“Yeah,” Mark agrees. “But I’m _your_ dork.” And with that, Mark leans in and captures Donghyuck’s lips with his own. It’s a little out of character because normally it’s Mark succumbing to Donghyuck’s persistent begging for affection. This little twist is surprising, but it’s also not like Donghyuck is going to _argue_ or anything.

The kiss begins as something soft and innocent; most of their kisses do, but it doesn’t take long for Mark’s fingers to thread their way into Donghyuck’s hair as the younger squeezes his hips, eliciting a delightful gasp and gaining him access to the inside of Mark’s mouth. Today, for some godforsaken reason, Donghyuck just can’t get enough of how Mark tastes.

Bittersweet and fresh, the taste slicks up Donghyuck’s tongue as he licks into Mark’s mouth, but the elder pulls back, leaning his head back against the wall and chuckling at how Donghyuck chases his lips.

“So I take it that you like it?” Mark asks airily from where Donghyuck has him pinned against the wall, uncaring of the lightswitch digging into his back.

“Do I _like_ it?” Donghyuck breathes out between planting kisses on Mark’s jawline. “I _love_ it. What is it?”

“Don’t hate me, please,” Mark says, shying back and hunching his shoulders. His cheeks flame up and he won’t make eye contact. Donghyuck frowns, grasping Mark’s chin between his fingers so he can tilt Mark’s face back to be level with his own.

“I could never hate you, baby.” He presses a chaste kiss to Mark’s lips. “What do you mean?”

“It’s black licorice.”

Donghyuck drops Mark’s chin.

“It is the _fuck_ not.”

Mark twists to dig something out of his bag lying on the floor beside him. His hand emerges a moment later, toting the very same bag of licorice that Donghyuck bought at the store the night before—he can tell because the bright orange clearance sticker is still on the package.

Donghyuck steps back, almost hissing at the sight. He knows that Mark is equating the action to that of a disgruntled kitten in his mind, but he can’t bother with that right now.

“You’re kidding me,” he deadpans, clearly unamused.

“Am not,” Mark chirps, unbothered. He knows all too well that Donghyuck is just being dramatic, but when Donghyuck whacks his shoulder, Mark’s eyes shine a little too much, his mouth curves downward at just a touch too steep of an angle for Donghyuck’s comfort.

So, he concedes with a sigh.

He snags the bag from Mark, opening it and popping a piece into his mouth before his brain can remind him that _hey you really hated this last time you tasted this and you threw up and you’ve hated it for years no Donghyuck what the fuck are you doing_. The flavor hits his taste buds and he knows that Mark is telling the truth.

Damn him.

However, he isn’t the only boy with tricks up his sleeve in this relationship. Donghyuck pouts, his fingers gripping Mark’s collar gently. His mixed reactions are clearly confusing Mark, but at least the elder’s sullen expression turns into one of perplexion. It’s a step up, even if just by a little bit.

“It doesn’t taste the same,” Donghyuck shamelessly complains, sticking out his lower lip in the pout he knows Mark is so weak for. Mark furrows his brow and takes a piece of licorice from the package, placing it in his mouth to see if there was something wrong with it, but that is exactly what Donghyuck hopes for. He surges forward and takes Mark’s lips for his own gain once again.

Mark gasps at the suddenness of it all, and Donghyuck takes the opportunity to dive in. He has no idea how long they stay like that, but by the end of it all when Donghyuck finally pulls away, he is the one with the licorice in his mouth.

The kiss leaves Mark blushing and breathless and flustered beyond all else; his spit-slicked, bruised lips are opening and closing because he can’t find the words to say.

“I like it with you so much more,” Donghyuck says at last, leaning their foreheads together. Mark pulls a face.

“That’s disgusting.”

“But you love it,” Donghyuck teases, his fingertips dancing across Mark’s collarbone as he continues to place careful kisses on the side of his boyfriend’s neck—the kind of kisses that make Mark sigh aloud and let his head loll back against the wall behind him.

“I do,” he hisses out in delight when Donghyuck bites down, suckling a bruise on the pale skin. “I really do.”

Now, as much as Donghyuck says that he still hates black licorice—the release of Yangyang’s vlog caused quite a stir in the community because one of Donghyuck’s defining characteristics, as well as his Twitter bio, is “black licorice anti”—he can’t deny that Mark makes a really good case for it.

**Author's Note:**

> i've had that last part drafted in the notes on my phone for three months and my hand slipped over my hiatus and i wrote an outline (whoops)  
> ahaha and i oop- my hyuckyang agenda slipped through right there :D
> 
> come yell at me on my socials about anything <3
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/baridalive)   
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